Monday, May 8, 2017

Commentary on Meditations: B3:1

We must take into our reckoning not only that life is expended day by day and the remaining balance diminishes, but also this further consideration: if we live longer, there is no guarantee that our mind will likewise retain that power to comprehend and study the world which contributes to our experience of things divine and human. If dementia sets in, there will be no failure of such faculties as breathing, feeding, imagination, desire: before these go, the earlier extinction is of one's proper use of oneself, one's accurate assessment of the gradations of duty, one's ability to analyse impressions, one's understanding of whether the time has come to leave this life - these and all other matters which wholly depend on trained calculation. So we must have a sense of urgency, not only for the ever closer approach of death, but also because our comprehension of the world and our ability to pay proper attention will fade before we do.

Now is the only time we have to act. And the more we meditate on the vast amount of time that has past and how we truly don't know when we will "leave the stage", we ought to act with urgency on becoming a good man. We ought to be a good man now.

Good coaches realizes he needs to take every opportunity to coach and to help his players improve.